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LANDSCAPE DESIGN 



Imagination 

 and Genius 



adjustments and accept substitutes in choosing his ideal for the solu- 

 tion of his problem. But, having chosen it, no compromise should 

 enter into his working it out. 

 Perfection Perfection is the complete realization of one ideal. There are as 



many perfections as there are ideals. No one object can contain all 

 perfections. What is beautiful in a Japanese garden may be hideous 

 in a French parterre. Perfection, therefore, often requires in the de- 

 signer a kind of bigotry. It demands absolute sacrifice of all charac- 

 teristics, beauties as well as faults, which are not the characteristics of 

 the particular ideal which is being sought. The more clearly defined 

 the ideal and the more whole-souled the pursuit of it, the greater the 



approach to perfection. ____ 



In the choice of this ideal is the landscape architect's great oppor- 

 tunity. Here he must use the constructive imagination which is the 

 power that makes him an artist. No two problems are ever alike, and 

 the true artist will expend his greatest endeavors in discerning and in- 

 terpreting the essence of each problem, drawing from what seem to be 

 incongruities and difficulties an inspiration for a more original solution 

 than would otherwise have come into being. The more the designer 

 studies each problem in all its relations, without assuming that it is 

 necessarily similar to any problem which has been solved before, the 

 more he trusts his own logical solutions, his own personal emotions, not 

 following blindly the accepted standards of his fellows merely because 

 they are accepted, the more does his work partake of the quality of 

 / Genius and the more likely it is to furnish inspiration for the designs of 



his successors. . - 



Individual The particular experience and training of the individual artist, 



^'y'^ together with the particular bent of his own mind, combine to give 



him his own set of ideals and his personal taste. The expression of this 

 taste in his work we call his personal style. From the examination of 

 a number of the works of a finished landscape designer, a critic could 

 tell with some certainty what considerations, esthetic and economic, 

 seemed to the designer paramount and most worthy of attention, and 

 what methods of organization seemed to him the best for producing his 

 effects. If he is the master of a real style and not merely of a number 

 of tricks and trademarks, his work will be characterized by something 



